Silverbrook Mine

Overview

A mid-19th-century lead and silver mine near Ilsington on eastern Dartmoor, worked to 66 fathoms via a substantial pumping and winding plant, whose surviving ivy-covered engine tower is often mistaken for a folly.

History

Silverbrook Mine, in Silverwood east of Ilsington, was worked for lead and silver -- not tin, despite lying within the wider Dartmoor tin-mining district -- extracting ore via an Engine Shaft from a pair of north-east to south-west trending lodes. A 20-inch pumping engine was erected in November 1852, alongside a 10-inch winding engine (whim), and the mine reached a maximum depth of 66 fathoms. Recorded output for 1854-56 included 93 tons of 65 per cent lead ore and 80 ounces of silver. In 1854 a miner, Richard Payne, was killed in an underground rock fall -- a single-fatality accident recorded in the local press at the time, below this archive's threshold for a full disaster record.

Workings

Worked a pair of NE-SW lodes via the Engine Shaft, pumped by a 20-inch engine (erected November 1852) and wound by a 10-inch whim; reached 66 fathoms deep.

Closure

No reliable specific closure date has been located beyond the mine being active through the mid-1850s, the period for which output figures survive.

What remains

Extensive tailings dumps survive, along with the ruins of several buildings and possibly a wheelpit; an ivy-covered engine tower on the site is often mistaken by visitors for a folly.

Tailings dumps, building ruins, a possible wheelpit, and an ivy-covered engine tower.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Recorded output for 1854-56 at Silverbrook Mine included 93 tons of 65% lead ore and 80 ounces of silver. ¹
• A 20-inch pumping engine was erected in November 1852 alongside a 10-inch winding engine (whim); the mine reached a maximum depth of 66 fathoms via the Engine Shaft. ²

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this mine.

Images

Sources

1. (secondary) Silver Brook Lead Mine — Grace's Guide
2. (secondary) Silverbrook Mine, Ilsington, Teignbridge, Devon — Mindat

Record created: 1 September 2026 · Last researched: 1 September 2026